Google’s Gesture Search app for Android is is designed to let you search your phone or tablet by drawing letters or numbers on the screen. In certain situations it is a nice alternative to typing what you need to find.
Fresh with a version 2.0 update that expands its reach to tablets, Gesture Search is a pretty fun tool to try out. It was very quick on my Galaxy Nexus at pulling up contacts, apps, music, settings, and bookmarks. You can customize what content you wish it to search, such as all contacts or only those which contain a phone number.
If you really dig Gesture Search, you can enable Double Flip, which launches it by flipping your phone away and then back. There is a warning, however, that leaving Double Flip on will substantially drain your battery. I wouldn’t recommend going this route unless you really find this is a preferred way to find information on your phone. True to its beta nature, one of the help dialogues contains a typo: “The Double Flip motion has be (sic) tested to work on a limited set of devices and under certain constraints.”
It does work rather well. Quickly drawing letters normally found the contact or application that I was seeking to find. I am skeptical drawing will catch on as a mainstream way to navigate a device, but it could certainly benefit certain users.
Google Gesture Search is an interesting use of this technology, enabling one to ditch the keyboard in certain circumstances. Personal preference and usage patterns will dictate how much one may wish to work it into their day-to-day mobile device usage.
